Thomas Boyd/The OregonianChris Konrad, 16, holds up a prospective purchase at the Beaver Fan Shop in downtown Portland on Friday. But Konrad, a lifelong Oregon State fan, said he's holding out for Rose Bowl gear: "I know I shouldn't say that. Because all my Duck friends will go, 'What are you doing, talking all that smack?' " Whatever happens in the Civil War football game Thursday, Ted Norman stands to win.

His Springfield apparel manufacturer, Identity by Sew On, makes T-shirts and caps for both the University of Oregon and Oregon State. Sales -- always strong in the run-up to the annual rivalry game -- are soaring this year, Norman said.

"It has, in the last week, picked up to an insane level," said Melody Oldfield, Oregon State's director of marketing. "Everybody wants to get in on the fun."

Each school licenses its name and logo for everything from motorcycle helmets to ice cream. They work together on Civil War merchandise, jointly approving (or rejecting) designs and splitting the licensing fees. Oldfield and her counterparts from Oregon will be walking the parking lots together in Eugene on Thursday, patrolling to ensure there's no unlicensed gear being sold out of car trunks.

Oregon State typically receives 9 percent of merchandise's wholesale cost. T-shirts might go for $2.50 or less wholesale, providing just 22 or 23 cents to the school.

"It takes a lot of T-shirts to get to actual money," Oldfield said. But those T-shirts do add up.

Oregon State's licensing revenues soared nearly 120 percent over the past five years, fueled in part by standardized lettering on team athletic apparel and in part by the school's two national baseball championships this decade. (The University of Oregon refused to disclose its own licensing revenues. Update: The Oregonian later obtained the data through a public records request. Here is the information.)

Both Oregon and Oregon State divide each school's royalty fees between their athletic departments and their communications offices. If money isn't huge in the grand scheme of university budgeting -- the $932,000 Oregon State took in last year wouldn't even cover Coach Mike Riley's salary --it is growing, and underscores that value of the universities' brands.

"The biggest driver for it, at the end of the day, is success," said Oregon State spokesman Todd Simmons.

Scott
Entinger, 36, sizes an Oregon hat for his 17-month-old daughter, Olivia
Rae, at The Duck Shop at the Washington Square Mall on Friday. Entinger
is a University of Oregon grad and a season ticket holder. Students showed up at Oregon's campus bookstore early last Sunday, the morning after the Ducks' double-overtime win at Arizona, looking for Civil War gear. And the pace hasn't let up, according to Jim Williams, who manages The Duck Store, as the school's bookstore is known.

"This is a lot of fun," he said. "There's just so much excitement."

A steady stream of customers paraded through the Beaver Fan Shop in downtown Portland on Friday, gearing up for Thursday's game amid their holiday shopping. Ducks fan Shirley Ott stood out in her green and yellow vest, while husband Andrew clutched a bag full of Oregon State gear he picked up -- "just to support the Beavers, for the Civil War, and to drive her nuts," he grinned, nodding to his wife.

Chris Konrad, a 16-year-old Milwaukie High School sophomore and aspiring Beaver, said he's going to do most of his shopping next week, once Rose Bowl gear hits the market.

When Thursday night's game ends, the winner's fans won't have to wait long -- not at all, actually -- to buy their Rose Bowl stuff. Shirts and caps will be printed in advance with each school's logo, to sell immediately.

At Identity by Sew On in Springfield, Norman said he's printing Oregon Rose Bowl shirts to sell immediately after the game ends in Eugene. If the Beavers win, he said, an all-night crew will print shirts to have on sale in Corvallis on Friday morning.

An Oregon alum, Norman said he's setting his school loyalties aside and will wear a neutral color to Thursday's game.